Eight people continued to be in Maoist captivity in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region even as the rebels released three others they had abducted, police said Monday.The guerrillas kidnapped five members of a special police officer’s (SPO) family Friday from a bus in Bijapur district, about 500 km from Raipur. On Saturday, five youths were taken away from Awapalli area in Bijapur.The five youths were reportedly abducted after their plan to enlist themselves as SPOs was leaked to Maoists.The rebels had also abducted a member of Janpad panchayat from Usur locality of the same district Sunday, taking the total number of people kidnapped to 11. However, the Maoists released three people of the SPO’s family late Sunday.Officials at the police headquarters say that police and paramilitary personnel in Bijapur have launched a drive to trace the abducted civilians.Bijapur is part of the Bastar region along with Dantewada, Bastar, Narayanpur and Kanker districts where Maoists have dominated the forested interiors since the late 1980s.Meanwhile, a police constable in Bihar’s Munger district was Monday arrested on charges of supplying “vital information” to Maoist, police said.Mohammed Saleem, an aide to Munger Superintendent of Police M. Sunil Naik, was held for his alleged nexus with Maoists. He is being interrogated.Maoists for boycott of Jharkhand panchayat pollsMaoists Monday asked people to boycott Jharkhand’s first panchayat elections scheduled to begin in the state November 27. “The polls are being conducted when the state is suffering from drought and a famine-like situation,” the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) said, urging people to stay away from the elections. “Millions of rupees have been spent to deploy (security) forces in rural areas in the name of the elections instead of expediting relief work,” the party said. “The panchayat polls will help only those who are in power and people should protect their interest by boycotting them,” said the statement made available to a section of the media. The elections will be held in five phases -- November 27, December 6, 13, 20 and 24. The Supreme Court in January directed the state Election Commission to hold the panchayat elections. The Jharkhand government is determined to hold the elections and has sought 250 companies of central forces. In the absence of elections, Jharkhand loses Rs 300-400 crore of central development funds every year that are directly routed to panchayats.